Microdosing LSD in the 21st Century: Set, Setting & Sustainability

LSD has one of the most fascinating and complicated histories of any compound on earth. Discovered in 1938, it broke wide open in the 1960s, spent decades underground, and is now back at the center of serious clinical research. We wanted to explore what that arc means for microdosing today.

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So we called Zach Leary. Son of Timothy Leary, host of the Psychedelics Then and Now podcast, and author of Your Extraordinary Mind, Zach has been living inside this world his whole life. He joined Paul F. Austin and Stephanie Karzon Abrams for a conversation that covered everything from Hofmann's bicycle day to today's clinical trials, what a responsible protocol actually looks like, and why sustainability might be the piece the 60s never got right.

Inside This Conversation

‍Course-Correcting 70 Years of Disinformation
Zach opened by sharing what excites him most: the collective shift in understanding that's happened faster in the last decade than in the previous 60 years combined. "What we're really doing is course-correcting 70 years of disinformation." Education and community are working.

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LSD's Arc: From Bicycle Day to Clinical Trials
The conversation traced LSD from Hofmann's 1938 synthesis through the clinical research of the 1950s, the 60s counterculture, and today's research renaissance. Zach encouraged everyone to read My Problem Child, Hofmann's own account of bicycle day and the first Western trip report.

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Set, Setting & Sustainability: Adding the Third S
When researching his book, Zach noticed that integration was nearly absent from 60s psychedelic literature. Sustainability, Zach explained, means extracting real value from every experience and turning it into action in daily life — not peak-chasing, but the post-journey glow as a practice in itself.

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LSD as a Microdosing Agent: Protocols, Purity & Q&A
Zach made the case that LSD may be the more effective microdosing compound - extraordinarily dosage-specific, slower to build tolerance, and a powerful flow-state inducer for creativity and performance. On harm reduction: sourcing and purity are critical with synthetics, spray formats make dosing more accurate than tabs, and L-theanine is a great stack for anyone prone to anxiety or overstimulation.

Speakers & Hosts

Zach Leary

author of Your Extraordinary Mind, host of the Psychedelics Then and Now podcast, psychedelic educator, and cultural voice on consciousness, safety, and modern psychedelic practice